For about three years, Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, the founding and current rabbi of City Shul, a Reform Jewish synagogue, and Canon Gary van der Meer, incumbent of St. Anne's Anglican Church and interfaith officer for the diocese of Toronto, have been doing a preaching exchange between their Toronto congregations. "In early 2013, van der Meer met Ilyas Ally, the son of Shabir Ally -- imam at the Islamic Information and Dawah Centre International, a nearby mosque, and former host of 'Let the Quran Speak', a Toronto-produced television show on Islam -- and the two discovered they shared an interest in interfaith relationships" (p. 13). "The strong links that already existed among the three places of worship ... have made it possible for them to quickly lend support to one another in the aftermath of violent attacks. After the mass shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec on Sunday Jan. 29, 2017 ... St. Anne's and City Shul organized a 'ring of peace' around their friend's mosque" (p. 13). "Tragically, Dawah Centre congregants had the opportunity to send a similar message to City Shul this fall [2018], after a gunman opened fire on worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Penn., October 27 [2018], killing 11 and injuring seven" (p. 13).
"[W]ith files from Tali Folkins, Anglican Journal Staff Write".
"Visitors to Church of England cathedrals numbered 10 million in 2018 -- an increase of more than 10 % on the previous year, according to a November [2019] report published by the church". "Quebec City's Cathedral of the Holy Trinity had 240,000 visitors in 2018 -- up from 149,000 five years previously, says Tommy Byrne, project manager at the cathedral". "Generating income through tourist visits is important to the cathedral, Byrne says, given its costs -- including an estimated $4 million in repairs needed over the next decade". "Visits to St. Paul's [Anglican Church in Halifax] -- the oldest continuous Anglican place of worship in Canada, as well as Halifax's oldest building -- now total between 12,000 and 14,000 per year, [the Rev. Paul] Friesen says". St. Anne's Anglican Church in Toronto "attracts some tourists interested in heritage and the arts. Built in 1907, the church borrows its dome from the tradition of Byzantine architecture, exemplified by the the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. During the 1920s, ten artists, including three future members of the Group of Seven painted the murals that grace the church's interior -- the Group's only known religious works. Recently the church has been more intentional about inviting visitors, says Canon Gary van der Meer, incumbent at St. Anne's".